Chapter One

Donatello glanced at the clock on his lab wall. Just after 11pm. He sighed and thankfully put down the soldering iron he had been using to fix Mikey's PSP – again. He leaned back in his work chair and stretched out his cramped muscles, noting as he did so that his neck and shoulder muscles were more than a little sore. Must have overworked them during practice this morning, he mused, as he picked up a screwdriver to put the long-suffering game console back together.

Crash! Don awoke with a start as something landed on the table in front of him, scattering odd components, left over from fixing Mike's PSP. When did I fall asleep?, he wondered, then caught sight of what had caused the crash. A motorcycle wing mirror, looking very worse for wear. Don sighed, "Hey, Raph" and turned to face the perpetrator of the noise.

"Hey Donnie, sort that out for us will ya?" Raph grinned, and went to walk out of the lab.

"Wait a minute, what happened?!" Don exclaimed incredulously, as he picked up the battered wing mirror. Raph paused in the doorway, turned back to Don.

"Oh, nothin' much, just ran into a little trouble with a bunch a' Dragons"

"Define 'a little trouble'. In terms of how much damage caused." Don pinched the bridge between his eyes, the headache he had woken up with making itself more insistent.

"Not much! It shouldn't take ya too long ta fix. Just… get it done by tomorrow night, yeah? Actually – "Raph broke off and looked at the clock "I guess it's now 'tonight'. I've got me some payback to give" He smacked his fist into his hand for emphasis.

Don groaned, and took a look at the clock himself. Coming up on 4.30am. Great, like this couldn't have waited a couple more hours.

"Why- oh …never mind." He looked away from Raph, focusing on the mirror in his hands instead. He really didn't feel like getting into an argument with Raph at this time in the morning. Plus he could guess the reason why. Relationships between Leo and Raph had been a lot better since the whole Winters affair, and Raph obviously wanted to keep it that way. Which meant it wasn't probably a good idea if Leo found out about this little escapade. I guess I could use this time before practice to get the bike repaired. It's not like I'm gonna have a lot of spare time later. He inwardly cringed at how much work he had lined up, not to mention he still needed to put in a few hours on his tech-support job sometime today.

Don stood up, and immediately felt the room move around him. Grabbing the edge of the work table to steady himself, the dizzy spell was over as quickly as it came. Ooh, head rush. Stood up too fast. Guiltily, he looked towards the doorway but luckily Raph had made his escape, and had disappeared off to his room.

Troubles between him and Raph had not been completely straightened out yet, Raph was still being kind of distant to Don. It had been going on ever since Don got stuck with the leadership mantle when Leo left, and now that normalcy had returned Don had no idea how to fix things between them. It didn't help that they had so little in common nowadays.

He was not surprised Raph hadn't stuck around to chat. Picking up his toolkit, Don made his way to the elevator to the warehouse.

I don't believe it! Don thought in shock, as he caught sight of Raph's bike when he exited the elevator. Raph's definition of 'not much damage' could use re-evaluation, to say the least. In addition to the mirror being missing from the right hand side, the side- and head lights were shattered; the body work was smashed in and the exhaust was hanging on by sheer will power from the looks of things. Don gave a long suffering sigh, put the toolkit down and set to work.

Sometime later, Don finished screwing the head lamp back into place. He had replaced the bulb but had no spare glass to replace the broken bits, but he doubted that would bother Raph. At least the bike would function well enough to deal out his 'payback'. He replaced the screwdriver in his toolkit, and pushed himself up from the bike. As he did so, he was hit with another wave of dizziness, and he stumbled and dropped to one knee. He rested his now painfully aching head against the bike's leather seat, and willed the room to stop moving.

Okay, really not feeling well now. Don lifted his head cautiously, his stomach queasy from the dizziness, and tried standing again. He felt weak, but no dizziness this time. I guess this headache might be throwing off my inner balance. Don kicked the toolbox to the side of the warehouse, thinking that he'd move it later- when he didn't feel like he was going to vomit. Oh, crap, what time is it?! He hurriedly looked at the clock on the wall, wincing as the fast movement made drums beat in his head. Oh my god, practice started five minutes ago! Don made his way unsteadily to the elevator door.

Heads turned as the dojo door opened and Donatello sidled in. His brothers were in their usual positions in front of their master. Leo and Raph both looked frustrated, probably with Don, but Mikey just looked bored. Splinter was facing them, looking at Don with a frown on his face, his tail twitching irritably.

"Sorry Sensei. I … was … was" Don broke off and frowned. Looked around him like he was seeing the dojo for the first time. He shook his head slightly, and then winced. "I was… what was I saying?" Splinter's frown immediately softened into a look of concern. Leo stared at Donnie intensely, not saying anything, and Raph raised his eye ridges. "You were explaining why you are late to practice. My son, are you feeling alright?"

"I was…?" Don blinked in the bright light of the dojo, and looked towards his brothers apologetically, then seemed to register the question his Sensei had asked. "I'm okay… just a bad headache…umm... I think I need to…." He wavered, steadying himself against the wall, and Splinter and Leo were next to him in an instant, Mikey and Raph exchanging glances and looking on worriedly.

"Donnie, you OK?" Leo was peering concernedly into Don's face. Don's eyes were a bit glassy, and his face was a much paler shade of olive green than was usual. "mmm.. wha'?" Don blinked, and put a hand to his head.

"My son, I feel you had better return to your bed and get some rest. I will come and see how you are feeling after morning practice" Splinter looked on as Don didn't even bother to argue, he just walked falteringly out of the dojo door. Splinter sighed. He knew his son well enough to know Donatello wouldn't have gone without a fight, unless he really wasn't feeling up to much. "I will see to you shortly, my son" he called after him. Leo was watching Don carefully as he walked away, and made to follow him.

"Leonardo, take your place please" Splinter instructed.

Leo and Raph exchanged glances of concern, but Leo, never one to disobey a direct order from Splinter, lined up next to Raph and Mikey, and the morning's practice began.

Don trudged slowly through the living area, intent on making his way to his room. He was a bit unsure exactly what had happened in the dojo, he had had an excuse all prepared, and suddenly it was like someone had reached into his brain and removed it without a trace. My head sure feels woolly though…he thought distractedly.

He was walking by the couch at this point, and sat down for a moment to collect his thoughts. He was discovering now that his body was feeling like all the energy had been sapped, and his shoulder and neck muscles were now constantly aching. Don realised that he had felt like this earlier, but not so severe. Pulling frequent all-nighters I guess I'm so just used to ignoring the tiredness, I don't think anything of it now. Shivering slightly, Don leaned forward and put his face in his hands as another wave of dizziness and nausea washed over him. Thinking that he'd better move to his bed after all, Don stood – or tried to.

He hadn't truly realised how weak he had was, and he pitched forward onto his knees instead, head pounding more violently than ever. Bile rose in his throat as the nausea became worse. Feebly, he tried to stand again, but his legs didn't seem to want to co-operate, as he just ended up sprawled face down on the cold living room floor. He felt so drained all of a sudden… and the overhead light was too bright… it was hurting his eyes. I'll just close my eyes for second…the light hurts… just rest them… and then I'll get up…

And then everything went black.